CH 205

The twelfth enhancement was the boundary of the upper echelons of power. A weapon’s stats wound increase explosively upon reaching the thirteenth enhancement level.

However, a person had to be prepared to lose something to gain something.

The chances of successfully enhancing a weapon past the +12 mark would dramatically decrease than enhancing a +11 weapon to +12. No, it was an understatement to say that the enhancement success rate would decrease dramatically.

An Adventurer had calculated the probability of successfully enhancing a +12 weapon and found that there was only a 3.5% success rate. Of course, the test was conducted with crappy weapons, so the data’s accuracy was arguable.

Why?

It was all because nobody knew if the item’s level restriction, tier, or stats affected the enhancement success rate. However, one thing was for sure—going from +12 to +13 was extremely challenging. It was proven by the dozens of failed enhancements that Siegfried had witnessed so far.

Of course, there was no need to mention just how difficult it was to go from +13 to +14 and +14 to +15. In short, the people with such equipment had taken the risk and were rewarded by lady luck, or they had enough cash to burn through until they succeeded.

‘It’ll work… I’m sure it’ll work…’ Siegfried believed in his own luck. It was the primary reason he had decided to put his Gaia’s Fist into the Enhancement Machine One.

And the result was…

Flash!

Light flashed from the machine...

Bam! Bam! Bam! 

Booo! Booo! Hiiiish!

Siegfried could hear all sorts of noises, and he grimaced the moment he realized what those sounds meant.

‘Ah… I’m fucked…’ he muttered inwardly.

The sound that he had heard just now was something that only the one who had attempted the enhancement could hear, and it was one of the two sounds that would be played whenever an Adventurer attempted an enhancement.

The first one was the sound of boisterous laughter upon successful enhancement.

Hahahahahahahaha!

It was a sound that accurately expressed how the Adventurer would feel after their gamble paid off. However, the problem was that Siegfried couldn’t hear that sound, which meant…

Booo! Booo! Hiiish!

Enhancement failure…

The +12 Gaia’s Fist had become just another offering to the hungry enhancement beast.

[Alert: The enhancement requested by ‘Seggs Stamina Machine’-nim has…]

He was currently hiding his identity, so his name was currently Seggs Stamina Machine.

Anyway, Siegfried was starting to panic, but the message that everyone had been expecting didn’t appear.

Why?

Fshwooooooh…!

The enhancement machine was now bright red after enhancing dozens of items before the Gaia’s Fist.

Poof! Poof! Boom!

The machine blew up.

[Alert: The Mercedes Workshop Enhancement Machine One has broken down!]

[Alert: The enhancement request of ‘Seggs Stamina Machine’-nim has been stopped!]

An unexpected message popped up in front of everyone’s eyes.

“What? It broke down?”

“Huh? So what happened? Was the enhancement a success, or did it fail?”

“I guess these things do break down sometimes…”

The Adventurers were at a loss.

Meanwhile, Siegfried was suffering inside. ‘Ah, I’m crazy…! I was crazy…! Why did even I do that? Why…?” 

Siegfried’s suffering was made all too visible by his body language.

“He looks like he’s in pain…”

“The enhancement stopped, but he’s in pain? Hey, he should have heard the sound effect, right? I guess he knows whether he succeeded or not, right?”

“Wait, what if it succeeded, but the machine broke down…?”

“Wow… that’s crazy… I would go insane if that happened to me… Imagine finally getting your hands on a +13 weapon only for the machine to break down in the process…”

Everyone else thought that Siegfried was successful because there had been so many offerings after him.

To read the uncut version, go to pawread dot com.

“Move! Out of the way!”

“Please step aside!”

A couple of NPCs from the Mercedes Workshop appeared and surrounded the machine as they started investigating the matter. It only took them five minutes to respond when they heard the news that the machine had broken down.

Murmur… Murmur… Murmur… 

Meanwhile, the Adventurers started guessing whether Siegfried had succeeded or not.

‘I’m screwed… I’m done for…’ 

Meanwhile, Siegfried was still in a daze.

“Are you the one who requested the enhancement just now?” Wilhelm asked.

“Yes, it’s me,” Siegfried replied.

“Please follow me. I will explain what happened,” Wilhelm said. He leaned forward and whispered into Siegfried’s ears, “Please follow me, Your Majesty.”

Siegfried decided to hide his identity, but Wilhelm easily deduced his identity based on the +12 Gaia’s Fist that was still in the enhancement machine.

***

Back at the Mercedes Workshop, Wilhelm bowed and said, “I apologize for what happened, Your Majesty. We always pride ourselves on being the best, so we have always been doing our best to maintain a certain standard for all of our products, so what happened today was inexcusable.”

“I am certain that you were surprised by what happened, but even we did not expect our enhancement machine to break down. I guess the Adventurers were quite riled up today… Anyway, I apologize once again,” added Wilhelm.

“Ah, okay…” Siegfried replied blankly.

‘Let’s go to the Han River…’

Siegfried was already imagining jumping into the Han River.

Splash!

“So I was wondering…” Wilhelm muttered.

“…?”

“Do you wish to continue with the enhancement, or do you wish to start over?”

Siegfried’s eyes shot wide open at those words. “Huh? Start over?”

“Your Majesty may opt to redo the enhancement because it was our fault that the machine broke down, but you may also opt to wait until the machine is repaired. You can continue with your enhancement by then.”

“No! No!” Siegfried frivolously shook his head, and then he said, “Let’s pretend it never happened.”

“Huh…? Pardon me…?”

“Let’s pretend that I never tried to enhance it in the first place. I would like my weapon back, please,” Siegfried said.

“Unfortunately, that is impossible.”

“Impossible…?”

“I apologize once again, but the enhancement energy is unstable right now, so there’s a chance that it will explode if we were to remove the weapon right now. An explosion at that scale would damage the entire country.”

“Ah…” Siegfried clicked his tongue. ‘Tsk… I thought I had a chance to make things right…’

He had acted like a man just a while ago, but he was now trying to run with his weapon tucked between his legs after realizing that the enhancement had failed. Of course, nobody could really blame him. After all, even the most hardened man would feel his heart drop upon realizing that their weapon was about to get destroyed.

Enhancement was a beast that didn’t discern between youngsters, old women, or children. It would ruthlessly bring ruin to anyone foolish enough to challenge it.

“Then… let’s cancel that one and redo it…” Siegfried said.

‘Anyway, it’s a relief that I’m getting another chance… Phew…!’ He couldn’t retrieve his weapon, but at least he had another chance to try his luck. ‘Ah… the heavens truly helped me this time.”

It was a huge relief that the enhancement machine broke right before it destroyed his weapon. Otherwise, Siegfried would have seriously considered going to the Han River Bridge with four bottles of soju.

“Are you certain that you wish to redo the enhancement? It could have been a successful enhancement,” Wilhelm asked.

‘Ah… He has no idea that it failed. I should probably shut up…’ 

The head blacksmith had no idea the enhancement failed, so Siegfried decided to feign ignorance.

“Enhancing a piece of equipment has a certain thrill to it, but all the excitement is gone now. I want to start all over again to feel the same thrill,” he said.

“Hmm… I see that Your Majesty is quite the thrill seeker… Yes, I understand. I will make preparations so that Your Majesty may redo the enhancement as soon as possible,” Wilhelm replied.

‘All right! I’m not screwed—yet! Not yet! Hahaha!’ Siegfried rejoiced, jumped, and tumbled inside. Of course, this didn’t mean that the success rate would go up or anything, but at least he would get a second chance to redeem his weapon.

“But we will need some materials to redo the enhancement, and unfortunately, our workshop has run out of those materials… I apologize…”

“What materials do you need?” Siegfried asked. He could smell the fragrance of a quest.

As expected, Wilhelm explained what materials he would need to allow Siegfried to redo the enhancement.

A quest message popped up in front of Siegfried.

[A Close Call!]

[Go to the Thierry Merchant Company and procure the rare material Regenium!]

[Progress: 0% (0/1)]

[Reward: A chance to redo the enhancement of ‘+12 Gaia’s Fist’.]

[Warning: This quest will not affect the enhancement success rate in any way.]

“The Thierry Merchant Company… I should go and see Guccio-nim,” Siegfried said.

“Oh, are you acquainted with Guccio-nim?”

“I have met him before,” Siegfried said. He undid his disguise and equipped his cape before saying, “It’s when I purchased this...”

“The Heavenly Silk…!” Wilhelm exclaimed after recognizing the material that made up the Blood Butterfly’s Wings. He inspected Siegfried’s other equipment and muttered, “In addition, you’re also wearing a customized artifact set from the Autonika Guild’s Smithy of Advancement. Your Majesty is truly extraordinary.”

“What do you mean? I’m a normal person who will still cry a river of blood if the enhancement fails…” Siegfried said while shaking his head.

“Hahaha! Crying and rejoicing at the enhancement result is the way of this world! Even the renowned heroes of the continents were not exempted from it,” said Wilhelm.

He was correct. It didn’t matter whether one was a hero or a farmer. Anyone would cry rivers of blood and tremble upon seeing their weapon getting destroyed right in front of their eyes.

Who wouldn’t be affected by a failed enhancement? Perhaps it was going to be a different story if they were someone who had let go of all their materialistic greed, but how many people had done that?

“We will pay for the materials, and Your Majesty will just have to bring the item for us while we repair the enhancement machine,” Wilhelm said. He immediately took out a check and passed it over to Siegfried.

Siegfried looked at the check, and his eyes shot wide open in disbelief.

‘Why is it so expensive…?’

However, he wasn’t really affected or shaken by the many zeroes on the check.

Why?

The money didn’t belong to him, anyway.

***

Siegfried immediately went to where the Thierry Merchant Company was located, White Town. As expected, he saw Guccio there.

“Your Majesty! What brings you here?” Guccio welcomed him with open arms.

Siegfried went straight to the point, but…

“I am sorry to inform you, but we cannot sell the Regenium at this time…” Guccio said.

“What is it this time…?” Siegfried’s eyes narrowed before saying, “Let me guess… the children from noble families are crazy over an accessory crafted from Regenium these days?”

Siegfried figured that it was the exact same event as when he had tried to purchase the Heavenly Silk, and it seemed that he was correct.

“H-How did you know, Your Majesty?”

“W-wait, I’m right? Those damn brats… who do I have to defeat this time?”

“I was just kidding, Your Majesty.”

“Huh?”

“Your Majesty seemed so eager to make a guess that I felt slightly mischievous.”

“…”

“Anyway, it has been difficult for us to procure Regenium because our caravan got ambushed.”

“Ambushed…?”

“Yes, a new up-and-coming band of mountain bandits called the Supreme Mountain Bandits have ambushed our caravan and looted all of our Regenium.”

“Don’t you have any in stock?”

“No, our caravan was in the process of moving all of our stock to our new warehouse, so…”

“How long will it take to craft new Regeniums?”

“Mining Regeniums isn’t that hard, but purifying them is an extremely complex and tricky process, so it takes a lot of time. I believe it will take at least six months to prepare one…”

A quest message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: The quest ‘Take It or Leave It’ has appeared!]

Siegfried wasn’t given a simple yes or no but rather two choices this time, and it seemed that the game had even analyzed his speech patterns and presented him with two choices that he would most likely make.

[1. Hmm… I guess I have no choice but to wait for six months…]

[2. Where is their base? I will go subjugate them and recover the stolen goods for you.]

Needless to say, Siegfried chose the second one.

“Where is their base? I will go subjugate them and recover the stolen goods for you.”

The quest Subjugate Mountain Bandits immediately popped up in front of him.